In a Pickle of Promotion
by Ashlee C
Summary: "I bet your favourite episode is the one where Mackenzie dares himself to swan dive off The Falls. I take off my shirt." "There is no such episode Chad." "Ha." Sonny and Chad are sent to Australia for two weeks to promote their shows on a new channel.
1. Chapter 1

**a/n: **So umm... I'm kinda nervous to post this because I haven't posted a fanfiction in, well, a really really long time. But I was randomly inspired with this idea while me and my friend were writing a SWAC fanfic (It's called Again and Again, so... go and read it) and so I decided to write it and figured, why not give it a go and post it? It's set sometime towards the end of season 1. And I promise, other people like Tawni, Nico, Grady and Zora will be appearing later on... I haven't neglected them. So... I hope you enjoy it :)

**disclaimer: **Don't own Sonny With a Chance... hence the fanficiton.

* * *

"Do you have your toothbrush?"

"Yes Mom."

"Tooth_paste_."

"Yes, I have toothpaste, pretty sure they have that in other countries as well though, I could buy it if I forgot."

"Did you pack socks?"

"Yes."

"Clean underwear?"

"_Mom!_"

"I'm just making sure."

"I'll be fine. It's only two weeks."

"But you'll be so far away."

Sonny then saw the real reason behind the interrogation of the items in her luggage. She softened.

"I'll be ok. I'll be back before you know it. And you'll be fine without me. In fact, you'll probably enjoy the peace and quiet."

Connie nodded. "I suppose you're right. I should look at the positive side. But… my little girl is going to be on the other side of the world all by herself."

"I won't be by myself. My publicist Rebecca will be there. So will some kids from the other shows. We'll be fine."

"Just one last hug before you go?"

Sonny nodded, and let her mother pull her into a bone-crushing hug. It was as though Connie was tyring to squeeze the life out of her, but she didn't complain that time. It wasn't like letting her only seventeen-year-old daughter fly across the world was something her mother did very often.

"Ok, be safe sweetie." She kissed Sonny on the cheek. "Take care of yourself. And call me every day."

"Ok Mom. I'll be fine. I'll see you in two weeks." Sonny gave her mother one last quick hug before going through the glass doors that read 'passengers only'.

She could barely keep the jittery nerves down as she queued up behind other travellers holding her passport in her hand. Rebecca was talking rapidly on her phone to someone, Sonny could only catch glimpses of words like 'right now' and 'not good enough' and 'emergency'. She was slightly alarmed, but didn't think much of it. In the line behind her was Anna Fitzgerald from Kitchen Dreaming, a mockumentary show about a teenage chef. Sonny gave Anna a halfhearted smile, before she walked up to one of the many desks and presented her passport.

She walked through the security check, and waited for Rebecca and Anna to catch up. She'd never been overseas before, and couldn't wait to go to Australia. But she was nervous as well.

It was a massive, massive deal for her to be going, and not just because it was her first overseas trip (a trip to Canada when she was fourteen didn't count, because that hadn't involved crossing over an ocean). CC Channel was launching in Australia and a representative for each of the major shows had been chosen to fly over and promote it. Sonny had been surprised to find out she'd been picked as the So Random representative, and currently Tawni wasn't speaking to her, but that hardly bothered her. Tawni once didn't speak to her for an entire day because she thought she'd used her precious lipstick. Coco-moco… somethingerather. So she was sure Tawni would be over it by the time she got back. There was a lot riding on this trip. She _couldn't_ let Mr Condor down. None of them could.

"Ohh! Is that a Starbucks I see? Come on girls. I _need_ my coffee fix before we go any further." Rebecca started to practically sprint towards the line.

With alarmed eyes Sonny turned to Anna. "Do we follow her?"

Anna nodded. "The smell will make me feel nauseous, but I'm a little bit scared of her. She's tiny… but can be vicious when she's mad."

"Really?"

"Yeah, didn't you hear her on the phone just now? There was some issue with accommodation for when we land. All I know is I'm glad I wasn't the person on the other end of the phone."

"I actually meant the nauseous part."

Anna shrugged nonchalantly. "Everything makes me feel nauseous."

"O…k…" Sonny didn't quite know how to react to that so she just left it as they quickly joined Rebecca in the line.

"Now girls, I advise to you get some Starbucks now, because as I was doing research I found out that there aren't many of them in Australia. So we could be without for a while."

"They don't have Starbucks in Australia?" Sonny asked.

"I know, shocking right? I honestly cannot imagine a world. But there you go. I guess Australia really is a bit of an upside down place… Anna are you ok?"

The girl just nodded, even though she was already looking several shades paler than she had moments ago. Sonny was certain that even her freckles had gone a couple of shades lighter.

"You can go and sit down at the tables over there if you want."

She nodded again and promptly walked over to the tables, picking a seat as far away from the counter as possible.

"Um… is it safe to have her on a plane?"

Rebecca waved her hand. "Yeah, we'll just shove some pills into her mouth before takeoff. She'll be asleep half an hour in and it'll be fine."

"Does everything really make her feel sick?"

"Only coffee, motion, chocolate, cheese, apple juice, heights, spaghetti bolognese, and… oh I think there are a couple of other things but I can't remember. She wrote it down for me though. I have it on my phone."

"Oh…" Sonny tried to wrap her head around how a girl that felt sick at the site of so many different foods could work on a show about cooking as Rebecca placed her order.

Coffee in hand, and an Anna with a little more colour than before, they headed to their gate, even though they still had an hour before the flight. There was some sort of meeting beforehand with one of the CC Channel's PR consultants about the basic rundown of the next two weeks Down Under.

It turned out that they had their own VIP guest, waiting lounge courtesy of the airline they were flying with. Sonny bit her lip to contain try and contain her excitement. But it didn't stop the small squeak of excitement when her eyes fell upon the black leather couches and… was that a water feature in the corner? There were only a couple of other people in the room. She recognised two boys from Teen Gladiator and…

Her smile promptly dropped.

Chad Dylan Cooper.

What the hell?

"What the heck Rebecca? I thought Portlyn was the Mackenzie Falls rep." She said in a harsh whisper.

The tiny blonde girl shrugged. "There were some last minute changes. Details were hazy. It's so much better that we have Chad though, he'll draw more attention."

With a giant huff Sonny flopped down into the seat next him, folding her arms over her chest. Trip officially ruined.

"Sup?" Chad asked her with a smirk.

"Why are you here Chad?"

He raised his eyebrows. "Are you kidding? You really think Condor is going to send a whole team to promote his channel and _not_ send the star of his biggest hit? Not to mention I have so many Australian fans that have been messaging me on Flitter to go down and visit them. So I'm… just fulfilling my duties as the greatest actor of our generation."

Sonny had no response so she scoffed instead.

"Why are you here? I thought they would have sent blondie."

"So did she."

"Don't get me wrong, I'm glad it's you."

"Really?" Sonny didn't bother hiding her surprise, but did try to suppress the shiver of delight that ran down her spine at the words.

"Yeah. Out of all of you Random's you're at least… somewhat bearable."

"Really?" _Come up with a new word Sonny._

"Yeah. I know you secretly watch my show." He winked.

She flushed bright red. "I do not."

"I bet your favourite episode is the one where Mackenzie dares himself to swan dive off the falls. I take off my shirt."

"There is no such episode Chad." (If there was, she was sure she would remember it all too clearly.)

"Ha!"

"I hate you." She twisted in her seat to turn her back on him as best as she possibly could.

"Really? Do you really Sonny?"

"… Yes."

"Yeah, well, same here."

"Good."

"Good."

"Fine."

"Fine."

As much as she didn't want him to get the last word, she wasn't willing to sit on a fifteen-hour flight in a battle of 'fines' and 'goods'. That, and they'd just been interrupted by a tall skinny guy with a giant afro waving a clipboard around telling everyone to listen to him.

Sonny took a moment to take him in. He was tall, lanky even. A whole lot of arms and legs, emphasized by the skinny jeans he wore. His hair stuck out of his head as a giant ball of frizz that seemed to somehow suit him. His shirt was a glaring yellow with something that looked like a reference to something Sonny didn't really get.

"Please listen to me this is _important_," he stressed the word. "There won't be any time for sleeping once we get to Sydney. We're off the plane, straight to the hotel to check in. Then off to radio interviews. So sleep on the plane. Please. You also need to remember you're promoting CC to kids _and _their parents. Ok? You need to make parents love you. So please I'm begging you put the innocent act on ten fold. I don't care if you're not a proper actor." Sonny ignored the fact that he looked at her when he said that. "Just do it. All right so, we're in Sydney for four days, then down to Melbourne for three, to Brisbane for two. Then back to Sydney for one more day of work and then you get fours days off for site seeing and all that jazz. Ok? Cool. It'll be totally awesome you guys. I'm sure of it. Oh and I'm Jamie by the way. Any stuff ups are on my head."

There was silence as he finished with a nod of his head.

"Er… any questions?" No one said anything. "Right then, talk amongst yourselves."

At that Chad moaned and slumped back against the seat. Sonny frowned at him, knowing she'd probably regret the next words out of her mouth.

"What's your problem?"

"Business class."

"Huh?"

"We have to fly... _business_ class." he shuddered at the word business as though it was a dirty thing.

Sonny ignored the horrified look on his face and grinned. "Isn't it exciting? Oh my gosh I'll actually be able to push my seat back without some idiot complaining about his seat tray. And have room to stretch my legs. I've only ever flown coach. It's going to be so great!"

Chad rolled his eyes. "Sometimes, I wonder what planet you're from. It'll be awful. And so cramped. There's hardly any room in business." he said. "I'm so used to the comfort of my private jet." he sighed. "I suppose I'll have to live, as she wasn't made for flights longer than a couple of hours. Still, they could have gotten us, or me at least, a first class ticket. As long as I don't have to sit next to barfy mcbarf or little miss princess I suppose I'll live."

"Who?"

Chad gestured vaguely to the redheaded Anna and another girl sitting by herself, staring at the floor blankly with headphones in her ears.

"Oh my gosh... Is that Roxy Roquette from Rose's Turn?"

Chad nodded. "Seriously, drama queen."

"I guess you two would make a perfect couple then."

"Been there, done that."

"You guys went out?" Sonny couldn't manage to hide the shock on her face.

"I was in one of her music video's."

"Chad, that's really not the same thing."

He waved his hand dismissively. "Sure it is."

Sonny decided it was better not to comment, and instead sent her mother a reassuring text message that she was fine and just waiting to board the plane. She gave the room another glance around. It was going to be a really long two weeks.

* * *

_So, I'd love to hear what you think, writing Sonny and Chad has ended up harder than I thought it would be. _


	2. Chapter 2

**a/n: **Thanks to everyone who reviewed! This chapter was originally two seperate chapters, but I realised it kinda worked better as one. And it's longer, so that's cool for you guys I guess, haha. Hope you like it!

* * *

"I come from a land down under! Where women glowww and men plunder." Break stopped and looked thoughtful. "Grey, why exactly do the women glow?"

Greyson, one of the Teen Gladiator reps, shrugged. "I dunno. There's a lot of sun in Australia. Maybe they're like, reflective or something."

Break seemed to consider this for a moment. "Huh, I guess you're right. Yeah, that's probably it." He took in a deep breath. "I come from a land down under!"

"We're stuck with them for two weeks?" Chad moaned and started digging around in his backpack for something.

"He's an idiot." Anna had taken up a seat next to Sonny. "But he's really hot while he's being one."

"Chad?" Sonny turned to her with a confused face.

"No." Anna giggled. "Everyone knows Chad is yours. I meant Break Tony, he's just so… and the muscles… I have every episode of Teen Gladiator he's in on Tivo."

"Oh." Sonny tried to ignore the comment she made about Chad, and the fact that it made her face heat up in a wildly inappropriate way. Well, it was appropriate for when she was mad at Chad and arguing with him (which was always) but for any other fashion. Just… no. Instead she drew her attention to the tall, bulky teenager still belting out the same two lines of the cheesy song about Australia. He had short, blonde hair, and dark eyes that had a glimmer to them. She shrugged. "I suppose. He's not really my type."

He must have felt her stare because next thing she knew he looked in her direction and gave her a big grin, and if she wasn't mistaken, the slightest hint of a wink. Next to her Anna sighed girlishly. Sonny gave him a smile back and turned to Anna.

"Yeah ok… maybe he's a little hot."

Anna narrowed her eyes playfully. "Back off. He's mine."

"Pretty sure he winked at me." Sonny tossed her hair over her shoulder casually. "Nah, he's all yours."

"And Chad's all yours." She whispered. "Don't look now, but he's looking at you."

So naturally, Sonny peeked a glance at the boy next to her. He was staring at her intensely, his head slightly tilted. There was something about the stare that made Sonny's face heat up in that inappropriate way again and she hated herself for having that reaction. She gave him her best 'what are you looking at?' stare. She was about to say it, but realised he had headphones in.

His eyes went wide at being caught and… Sonny was sure he blushed a little. He shook his head and rolled his eyes, before quickly turning his attention to his iPod.

Sonny decided to ignore him. They weren't even on the plane yet, and she was already sick to death of the blonde haired drama king.

"Anna." Rebecca approached them. "We're going to be boarding soon. So here." She handed her a small bag with two pills in it. "Remember to take these as soon as you find your seat."

"Oh I won't forget. Not after the LA to Nashville disaster of 2004." Anna took the pills from Rebecca and smiled at her gratefully.

"Anna…" Sonny started. "Um, can I ask… if so much makes you feel sick by just the smell of it and that… uh, how do you work on a show that is about food?" The questions had been bugging her since Rebecca had rattled off the list of things that made Anna feel nauseous, finishing it with 'and other things'.

The girl shrugged. "Most of the time the food is fake, and when it's not they try to give me as few lines as possible, so I just try and not breathe in. Once they tried to get me to wear nose plugs, but then I sounded like I was really sick, and it's like 'what's a sick person doing in a kitchen?' and it was too unrealistic. I mean, I know a fifteen-year-old professional chef is already unrealistic… but… it's television. Have you _seen_ Mackenzie Falls?"

For a moment Sonny wasn't actually sure if Anna was genuinely asking and changing the topic, or if it was part of her 'television is unrealistic' point. But with the way she didn't seem to be expecting any sort of answer, it was probably the latter.

"Right." Sonny nodded, she glanced at Chad whose face was fixed in a glare on Break Tony.

"Alright kids. Make sure you have your boarding passes and passports on you or else you're not getting on the plane, you'll stay here at LAX and I will lose my job." Jamie announced loudly, waving around his own passport and plane ticket as if they needed an example of what it was they needed to be holding in their hands.

Sonny quickly fished through her bag looking for her passport, which in a hurry to get Starbucks she'd thrown carelessly into her bag. The boarding pass placed carefully inside had crinkled after being shoved amongst her purse, phone and the book she was currently reading.

"Line up over here guys. Come on, quickly." Rebecca held the door open.

After pushing and shoving, Break loudly complaining that Greyson kept stepping on his feet and Roxy and Chad having to take photo's with one of the flight attendants, they were finally getting onto the plane and finding their seats.

"Where are you sitting?"

Anna glanced down at her ticket. "Seven B. You?"

"Eight A. Bummer. I was hoping we'd be next to each other."

"Don't worry, I'm going to be sleeping the whole time anyway, it's not like I'd be the best company anyway."

"Sonny, here." Rebecca waved her over. Sonny squeezed her way past an older couple putting luggage in the overhead and met Rebecca halfway down the business section. "Try not to kill each other, ok?" She whispered to Sonny.

Sonny frowned, but it was quickly forgotten when he eyes fell upon the window seat she had. She clapped her hands excitedly and quickly slid into the seat, moving around a little to get comfortable.

"This is so cool." She said to herself.

"Howdy neighbour."

"Ahhh!" She jumped in surprise, her heartbeat quickened momentarily, until she just saw Break Tony's face peeking between the two chairs. "Oh my gosh, you scared me."

"Sorry about that. 'Grats on the window seat." His hand appeared out of nowhere.

"Uh… yeah…" Sonny obliged him the high-five.

"If you get bored at all during the flight, just ask Grey here to swap with ya for a while, and I'll entertain you." He wriggled his eyebrows, and Sonny couldn't quite work out if he was being comical or suggestive. She was thankfully saved from a response when someone slid into the seat next to her.

"Hi, I'm Cha- oh. It's you."

"Oh, goodie, my dream come true. Sitting next to Chad Dylan Cooper, the greatest actor of our generation, for fifteen hours. Whoopee." Sonny said in a deadpan voice.

Chad gave her an award-winning smile (no, really, Tween Weekly's 'most charming smile' three years in a row). "That's exactly right." He turned to Break and his eyes narrowed. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Offering our Miss Sonny here a way out from having to suffer next to you." He said with a smirk.

Sonny had to bite her lip to stop herself from laughing at the look on Chad's face. "Please, Sonny and I are friends."

"You are?" Break asked at the same time Sonny said,

"We are?"

"Well, let's see… I saved you from being humiliated on national television, in front of your shows entire three viewers, I let you hang out at the falls, I went on a fake date with you, I helped you break up-"

"Alright." Sonny cut in. "I get it."

"Actually, now that I think about it, I've done a lot for you. And you have done very little for me. I think you owe me one Munroe."

"I've knocked your ego down a few notches. You're welcome _Cooper_."

"Alright, well, I'm going to leave you two at that… and see what movies are playing." Break shrunk back into his own seat, leaving Sonny and Chad glaring at each other. "Oh! The new Twilight is playing!"

Chad raised his eyebrows and mouthed "Wow."

Sonny let out a little giggle and turned to her own screen at her seat. She settled back into the seat, knowing any comfort was going to be temporary. Two hours in and her back would be killing. But it was going to be worth it. She couldn't wait to get to Australia.

* * *

Sonny shifted in her seat again. She wriggled her butt, flexed her feet and twisted her back and settled back into her seat.

No. It hadn't helped. Her lower back now had a dull ache, and she could feel the kinks in her neck and shoulder's. She already watched her way through two movies, and several episodes of Friends and was officially bored. She glanced at the boy next to her. His earphones were in an his eyes were closed, he'd been like that for a while and she was pretty sure he was asleep.

Maybe she should try that too…

She started digging around for her iPod, when a piece of paper fell in her lap. She frowned and opened it up.

_Sonny I'm bored. _

It read.

Slowly she glanced around. It wasn't from Chad because it wasn't his handwri- well, he was asleep. She peeked through the gap between her and Chad's seats and as she did Break Tony grinned and waved at her. She smiled back.

She managed to find a pen (and her iPod while she was at it) and wrote a reply.

_**How was Twilight? **_

She tossed it back to him.

Moments later it returned.

_Nikki Reed is a freaking babe. _

_**I'm more of a Taylor Lautner fan myself. **_

_That dudes a pansy. What are you doing now?_

_**Was going to try and get some sleep before we land**_

_I'll leave you to it then. Night ;)_

Sonny smiled to herself and folded the note before putting it in her pocket carefully. She put her earphones in and picked out some easy listening music and let it lull her to sleep.

**OoOoO**

Her pillow was warm. Really warm. And cosy and… she just… well, it just fit. She smiled to herself and hugged it tighter, nuzzling her head into it a little more. It hugged her back and she…

Wait.

Her eyes snapped open.

Her pillow hugged her back?

She opened her eyes to see a whole lot of blue, and quickly became aware of the fact that her 'pillow' was rising a falling, kind of like… breathing.

"Ahh!" She let out a scream and quickly pushed herself back into her own seat, getting as close to the edge of it as possible.

Chad's eyes snapped open at her scream, his head darting around in all directions. "What? What?" He asked. "Where's the spider?" His eyes fell on Sonny who was looking at him with her eyes wide, her face flushed completely read. He suddenly remembered… being woken up by a weight pressing against his chest. He'd looked down to find Sonny leaning on him, lying practically right across her seat. She'd flung one arm over his chest and in that moment he'd forgotten how to breathe. He wanted to wake her up… knew it was what he _should_ do. But then she'd sighed happily and his heart fluttered. So, the logical thing to do had been to wrap an arm around her and pull her closer to him and fall back asleep.

That must have been how she woke up.

"Oh." He said. He scratched his awkwardly not sure what else to do. "Well uh…"

"Never happened?" She asked.

He nodded his head. "_Never_ happened."

She sighed in relief. She'd been sure he was going to taunt her. Say how in love she was with him and how much she just couldn't resist him. And that it would go on and on and on for the rest of the trip. That it would be like the kissing thing all over again.

"Good." She said.

Chad rolled his eyes. "Good."

A grin slowly spread across her face. "Fine."

"Fine. Now, excuse me, I'm going to the bathroom."

Determined to not think about what had just happened Sonny turned to her screen and started playing around with it. They only had about two hours before they would be landing. She tried to look for a movie to watch, when someone suddenly slipped into the seat next to her.

"You two looked cosy."

She turned to find Greyson sitting next to her grinning.

She felt herself going red. "It was completely unintentional. I probably would have done it to anyone sitting next to me. I'm… a hugger."

"But he looked just as cosy as you. In fact, I'd go as far as saying he didn't seem to have any issue at all with you being all over him."

"I wasn't all over him! And, it's not like that. Chad and I are just…"

"Just what?" He asked, his brown eyes gleaming.

"Frenemies…"

"There's nothing going on between you two?" His raised an eyebrow sceptically.

"Ew, no. There's nothing… and never will be anything going on between Chad and I."

"Ok…" He still sounded like he doubted her. "Break will be happy to hear that."

"Break?" Sonny didn't bother to hide her surprised. "What does he have to do with anything?"

"Well, in case you didn't realise he-"

"Hey, buddy, you're sitting in my seat." Chad was suddenly standing over Greyson.

"Right, sorry." He looked back at Sonny for a moment. "Nice talking to you." He gave her a wink and got up to return to his own seat.

Chad sat himself down heavily with a huff. Before Sonny had a chance to say anything at all to him, he pulled on his headphones and put a movie on, practically glaring at the screen as he did so. She couldn't help but wonder if he was even looking at the screen properly at all. Or else he might have realised he was watching The Princess Diaries.


End file.
